Sports ministry to protect intellectual property rights

Intellectual property rights has had a significant impact on the financial and economic positioning of sport and this has led the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Recreation to partner with a legal practitioner to stop the loss of recognition and revenue by teams and content creators.

The issue of having unscrupulous retailers and individuals selling team replicas and jerseys with trademarks and copyrights continue to be a thorn in the flesh for most teams who are deprived the monetary value attached to their content.

The Ministry of Sport, Arts and Recreation said such a menace should stop forthwith hence partnering with a legal firm to bridge the gap in intellectual property rights understanding as well as strike the right balance between the innovators and the innovation consumers.

Speaking on the sidelines of an intellectual property awareness training programme, principal director in the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Recreation Dr Benson Martins Dube said it is important for sport stakeholders to be enlightened on ways of curbing the vice threatening the sport, arts and recreation sectors.

A legal practitioner Nobert Musa Phiri said they had to partner the ministry on the intellectual property workshop after realising that teams are losing huge sums to individuals who poach content and gain mileage from what belongs to other copyright owners.

Phiri said instead of teams being cry babies, they can venture into partnerships with corporates which will see their stadiums brand named and in the process generating revenue.

It has become a norm in stadiums for fans to ride on the mileage of big clubs to create their slogans on team replicas and in the process gaining popularity and monetary value from pirated copyrights and trademarked goods.